A CARMARTHENSHIRE photographer took a five-hour round-trip over the weekend to capture the moment a blazing comet streaked through the sky above Stonehenge.

Photographer Mathew Browne, 37, drove from his home in Carmarthenshire to get to the iconic neolithic stone monument to capture it during the “clearest sky of the year”.

On a spectacular evening, the rare Neowise comet could be seen as it came as close as 103 million km away from earth.

The photographer managed to capture the breathtaking shot of the comet flying over the rocks late Friday night.

The fireball shot through the sky on its once-in-a-6,800-year journey with the stunning noctilucent clouds behind it.

Noctilucent clouds, or night shining clouds, are a cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere of Earth.

They consist of ice crystals and are only visible during astronomical twilight.

Mathew said: “I’ve taken thousands upon thousands of shots during my career but this has to be one of my favourites.

“I knew it was going to be one of the clearest nights we had so I had to make my way there.

“I thought it was now or never for me to head there and get myself a photo of a lifetime.

“I was so happy when I got there because it was simply breathtaking.

“When I parked up and I saw the clouds I was just amazed.

“I am a professional photographer so I shoot a lot at all hours of the day, but the sky that night was spectacular.”

The married dad-of-one added: “It was absolutely worth it. I’d have kicked myself if I hadn’t gone and missed out.

“The pictures are showing something so unique. You’ve got the comet, the noctilucent clouds, which only appear a couple of weeks a year during the summer, and you’ve got this clear sky.

“It’s not something you see often and to see it all at Stonehenge made it special.”

A comet is an icy, small solar system body that, when passing close to the sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process called outgassing.

This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail.